KICTAnet members welcome to join this discussion on examining evidence from communication and information activities that support development outcomes. best alice ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bridget McBean" <bmb@ecdpm.org> To: <alice@apc.org> Cc: "Nigel Scott" <nigel@gamos.org> Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 2:10 PM Subject: ECDPM / GAMOS invite you to join an online discussion about examining evidence from communication and information activities that support development outcomes from 28 August 2006

Dear Ms Munyua

You recently answered a survey for my colleague Dr Scott, for which we are grateful. We found your answers very helpful. We are about to have a discussion on the same subject and wondered if you would like to join in an online discussion. The online discussions begin on Monday 28 August 2006 and will run for three weeks. The ECDPM and GAMOS will moderate and managed the discussion as part of a DFID funded initiative.

Process so far This invitation is a follow up to an email sent out at the beginning of August to raise awareness of the international initiative.

The organisations and individuals who submitted their interest have ready been registered as participants to the online discussion group. Over sixty individuals in numerous organisations have already received an email welcoming them to the D-group website and providing them with access to the website, the resources and, from Monday, the discussion. They can enjoy reading some background papers and making some of their own contributions to the online resources.

For those interested to participate, please send a request to join the D-group to join-communication-evidence@dgroups.org

Overall objective The policy makers invited to the forum for discussion will contribute to greater understanding of the evidence base related to communication and information activities that support development outcome. This will occur by the exchange of information promoted by the initial questions and by the report on the discussion. As this is the first discussion of this nature, a community of interested policy makers may materialise out of the interactions. As the discussion is part of a DFID funded project that is developing the evidence base, the feedback report from the discussion will contribute to clarity regarding the needs of policy makers. The discussions are part of an iterative process designed into the 18 month project

Format of the discussion From the project this far, three questions have been identified and will be presented as the basis for first discussion. The first process will run over three weeks. Each week, the discussion will be guided by a question. Each session will be moderated and a summary posted at the end of the discussion. The summarized discussion will become part of the project documentation.

Question one – week one Within the range of sectoral policies (affecting developing countries), what level of importance is generally attributed to integrating the use of information and communications into policies in order to deliver outcomes more effectively?

Question two - week two Given the results last week, what type of evidence would be most helpful in raising the profile of Information and Communication?

Question three – week three Given the results last week, how can we get the right information in front of the right people at the right time?

Members The members of the group are policy makers in government, non government organisations, donors and academia. So far, the reregistered members are from a spread of countries from Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Ethiopia Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Guyana, Peru, the UK and Belgium. Organisations represented include Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNECA, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Ministry of Finance, EU Delegation, Oxfam, Regional and Local government office, Ministry of Health, local governance reform programme, Ministry of Education and an array of interesting NGOs.

To build the community of interest, it is important that the members identity themselves When you post a comment, please let everyone know who you are by sending a short (around 30 words) introduction including your name, position, affiliation and country with your first posting to the discussion.

It would be useful to categorise yourself as from one of these five sectors (health, education, livelihood/agriculture, governance and economy/growth and as from one of these four groupings (donor agencies, government, civil society, ICD)

The attachment outlines key information about the content and format of the discussion.

We look forward to a vibrant and interesting discussion.

Yours sincerely

Bridget McBean Head: Communication and Information

European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) Onze Lieve Vrouweplein 21 NL 6211 HE Maastricht The Netherlands Tel: + 31 43 350 2913 (direct) Tel: + 31 43 350 2900 (general) Fax: + 31 43 350 2902

Email: bmb@ecdpm.org Website: www.ecdpm.org